I backed this project on Kickstarter. The developer has worked in the gaming industry for 14 years and is a victim of the video game layoffs. He is a solo developer. He is the artist, programmer and has been programming in Godot for about a year. The introductory video on Kickstarter is hilarious; well worth the 3 minutes it takes to watch. Unfortunately, after five days, the campaign has a little over $2000 dollars of the over $23000 needed to be funded, so it is unlikely to reach the required goal.

The demo is now available on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3505230/Soulblaze/ [External Link]

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Pre-Fortress 2 is a mod for Team Fortress 2 that brings back elements of previous Team Fortress installments in a fast-paced environment that is perfect for casual or competitive play.

Reading this reminded me of an eMail I received this weekend. Here is the background:

I have contributed on two separate occasions to the CS:Legacy Team:
Steam Group URL: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CSLegacyGame [External Link]
According to this page:

CS:Legacy is a remake of classic CS, built from the ground up with fully custom game code and game assets. The game is built on Valve's official 2013 Source Engine SDK codebase, with our own major rewrites to the renderer, shaders and various systems.

In the eMail I was notified that my donation was refunded and was given the following information:

Valve told us the SDK license wouldn't allow us to release CSL, and that we'd need a dedicated Counter-Strike license instead. If we get confirmation that this wasn't a misunderstanding, we'll have to move development to working on our own tactical shooter IP, still with the same oldschool shooter vibe but away from the CS IP. We've already started working on a prototype on a different engine to prepare for that situation which seems the most likely at that point since Valve still hasn't answered back to this day.

This YouTube video does a good job explaining the situation, even if there is too much advertising for my taste:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybl4bLmWcfY [External Link]

This is the X posting mentioned in the video:
https://x.com/CSLegacyGame/status/1940474749441732869 [External Link]

I am having a hard time getting a good, firm handle on all this...

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I am sorry to hear this. I own and have enjoyed playing a couple of the SteamWorld games. A Thunderful game on my wishlist is Viewfinder. I enjoyed playing the demo during a Steam Next Fest a couple years ago. Looks like Viewfinder is 65% off (a historical low) and has a Platinum rating on protondb. It might be time to pick this game up. Planet of Lana is also on my wishlist, but I think I can pass on this one.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

There are several games that are on my "Buy Upon Release" List. At the top of this list is Moonsigil Atlas. I was accepted for the play test and have found the game play very enjoyable. The game mechanics are unique and clever. The features that have been added since the demo was released in May are very impressive. I would highly recommend downloading the demo to anyone.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I am looking forward to purchasing this game when it releases. I have been playing Skull Horde exclusively on the Steam Deck. The graphics look fantastic on my lowly LCD screen. I found the game play of this auto-battler to be very satisfying. The demo gives a very nice introduction to the mechanics of recruiting and evolving your army of minions. The demo is set on easy mode so that you can get a good feel for how the game progresses. After several runs I was able to get to the boss of the level. Even though I lost and did a minuscule of damage to the boss, I felt I could win the run if I continued playing the demo. From what I have seen, there will be meta-progression in full version. There was also a mention of a co-op mode being a possibility in the final release. 8BitSkull is a great developer/publisher. Their games are reasonably priced and the fact they support native Linux makes this a must buy game for me.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

✕ Windows Phone
✕ Microsoft Zune
✕ Microsoft Cortana Speaker
✕ Xbox Kinect
✕ Windows Automotive OS

I did a quick scan of the posts on this thread and could not find a mention of Windows RT, which was the first thing to come to mind when I saw the title. Windows RT was designed to run on ARM-based hardware (e.g., Microsoft Surface RT Tablet). The OS and the Tablet faded into obscurity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_RT [External Link]

As ElectricPrism mentioned, the Windows Phone was another Microsoft flop. It ran an operating system that was named Windows WP. In 2010 a friend had a work phone that ran Windows WP. The GUI interface was rather cumbersome and lackluster compared to the other mobile phones available at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Phone [External Link]

When it comes to handheld devices and the operating systems for those devices, Microsoft does not have a very good track record.

BTW:
Windows RT = Windows Really Terrible
Windows WP = Windows Wondrously Pathetic

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I'm going to put mint on it over ubuntu as it's alot better in terms of ease of use and stability imo

Not a fan of Wayland. I have had to reinstall Linux on two different machines because of problems that appeared to be related to video issues. My current work desktop is Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS. End of life for 22.04.5 LTS is April 2027. At this point in time, I am planning on installing Mint also.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

...you just get an overall better experience when compared with running YouTube via the web browser.

You can say that again!
VacuumTube makes watching videos on the Steam Deck so much easier. Using the Steam Deck controllers to navigate YouTube is a joy. Best app I have installed on my system. Thanks for letting us know about this program Liam.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

All I can say is that I am glad they are resetting the world on June 16th.

I went into the game tutorial. I got into what they referred to as the "Vault" and started clicking. When I got back to my character I had nothing on my torso, legs or feet. In other words, I was naked. I then had the brilliant idea to reset my character. When I reset my character, I had to rename my character. I tried the same name as I had previously and it would not accept the name. There was no error message, so I assume the name was considered "taken"...

Bottom line:
I am naked and nameless in the land of BitCraft! No way I am heading to town! :grin:

[Edit]
I could not figure out how to get my previous character name back. I did find my clothes in my inventory though.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Fantastic game review Liam! I have Stardew Valley installed on my Steam Deck, but have been thinking I might enjoy having another similar game available. From your review, I can see that Cattle Country would definitely fit the bill. From watching the Live Broadcast on Steam and watching a YouTube video, I can see that there is a great deal of content and playablity available. I have added this game to my wishlist.

View this comment - View article - View full comments